April 14--After a long, miserable winter, things are finally heating up in Chicago, thanks to our baseball teams.
The Cubs and White Sox have replicated their hot starts from 1907, the year after the first and only all-Chicago World Series.
The White Sox are 6-2 after Wednesday's win in Minnesota. The '07 Sox started out 6-2 and wound up 87-64, in third-place in the American League.
The Cubs are 7-1 after beating the Red on Wednesday, their best start in 31 years. They also started out 7-1 in 1907, en route to a 107-win season and the first of back-to-back championships.
Everyone expected the Cubs to win eaarly and often, but the surprising Sox are doing it with strong pitching. They rank second in the majors in the early going with a 2.42 earned-run average, just behind the Nationals' 2.25 ERA. The Cubs rank third with a 2.52 ERA, and are tied with the Giants for the major-league lead in runs (56).
Both teams stressed the importance of getting off to good starts, particularly the White Sox, who stumbled out of the gate last year and never recovered. White Sox manager Robin Ventura said Sunday they needed to prove themselves over a longer stretch for this to truly qualify as a hot start.
"We need to go longer," he said. "We have a long road trip. I think when you go on the road this long, that kind of decides if it's a good start or not. I wouldn't say just one week into it that's your start. I guess you could blow it early. You can't win it early but you can sure lose it."
